Hot Topics:

Adams homicide defendant Erasmo Cruz faces accuser

It took Magisterial District Judge Mark Beauchat just over an hour to rule that Cruz be bound over on charges in the 1980 attack that left a mother and daughter dead.

By TAD WAYNE TABORN

Posted:
05/09/2013 10:19:49 PM EDT

Adams County deputies escort Erasmo Cruz as he returns from his preliminary hearing Thursday. Cruz was bound over on criminal and conspiracy charges of homicide, arson and burglary. (THE EVENING SUN -- TAD WAYNE TABORN)

Erasmo “Junior” Cruz , 56, sat in court Thursday as the other man accused in a brutal double murder 33 years ago testified against him.

And it took Magisterial District Judge Mark Beauchat just over an hour to rule that Cruz be bound over on charges in the Aug. 30, 1980 attack on a rural Freedom Township home that left a mother and daughter dead. Cruz faces another court date next month.

Cruz and Ruperto Garcia, 48, each face criminal homicide and other charges stemming from the 1980 fire-bombing and double-homicide. The men have been in Adams County prison.

According to prosecutors, two men burst open the back door of the Patterson's home on Middle Creek Road in Freedom Township, and hurled beer bottles filled with flaming gasoline into the kitchen. The bottles exploded, setting off fire alarms, and waking the family around 3 a.m.

As the family exited the house, the gunman shot Nancy Patterson's husband, Paul Sell, injuring him. He shot Nancy Patterson in the back, killing her. Deborah Patterson, 18, was shot in the mouth at point-blank range.

The family of the victims sat quietly with a victim-witness coordinator. Cruz listened intently to the Spanish translator stationed between him and his public defender throughout the hearing.

Garcia described himself as a 15-year-old being ordered to participate by the older Cruz and his nephew, Abraham Cruz, after a night of drinking Thunderbird wine at a hangout in Harrisburg.

“[Erasmo] don't ask,” Garcia said. “He commands.”

Advertisement

Garcia told the court that he was given an orange ski mask and expecting to participate in a burglary.

But what unfolded that night was much different, he testified.

“I didn't sign up for this,” Garcia said during his animated testimony. Garcia punctuated his story with physical accompaniment — lurching to his feet to describe a “long gun” and extending his handcuffed arms to represent dimensions.

And he admitted to tossing a lit Molotov cocktail, though he insisted he missed.

“It was too heavy for me, and it hit the ground,” Garcia said.

As they left the crime scene, Garcia testified, Cruz said something he will never forget:

“'Do you know what I just did?' Garcia recalled the defendant as saying. ‘I just killed my girlfriend and she was pregnant. So don't think I won't kill your mom.'”

U.S. Marshals tracked Cruz to a village in Puerto Rico, where he was apprehended last year. Cruz was extradited to the United States in March, and Garcia was arrested at his home in Harrisburg about a week later.

Also testifying was retired Trooper Ed Heromin, who identified locations, items, and the bodies of victims from photographs of the crime scene. Heromin worked for the Pennsylvania State Police from 1964 to 2004.

On arrival, Heromin and another trooper entered the residence after finding a single wounded male on the porch.

The wounded man was identified by the trooper as Sell, who was transported to the hospital. Heromin was informed that there were two dead people on the other side of the building.

Heromin was shown a copy of the 33-year-old sketch he had included with his report from that night. Heromin carefully identified red, green and purple 16-gauge shotgun shells and specifically a “Miller beer bottle, quart-sized with gas and a wick sticking out.”

On cross examination, Heromin, 68, was asked about his age and to describe his memory.